The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.

Mamounata Nikiema is a filmmaker and producer from Burkina Faso. She was trained at the Université Gaston Berger of Saint-Louis in Senegal. She is Secretary General of the association Africadoc Burkina3 since 2014. In addition, she is Production Director at Pilumpiku Production.

A couple expecting a third child arrives at the hospital, the woman is about to give birth, unfortunately, she encounters a rather unaccommodating midwife and a nurse.

The consciousness-raising film Double peine (Double hardship) produced by GIZ PaSaaR in collaboration with l’ADAMIC is an indictment against the forms of violence exerted on women in maternity wards by medical staff. This film was produced as part of training activities for midwives and male midwives. (Translated from French)

Elise Manuela Kameni was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon. She is the author of several works, presented by the national broadcasting office of Cameroon in radio drama. Actress in several films, Elise Manuela Kameni is also assistant director of four films (short and feature film). She directed three short films: La sottise, Hiich, Sur les pas de père Soffo : le Prophète.

"He is a deaf boy in a family that loves him very much. He is raised by his grandmother, and despite his disability, he lives a normal life like any other child. So he plays with his brothers at home, he does housework, he goes to the deaf school, he also goes to the worship service where everything is translated into sign language. He has a normal life".—Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

Pascale Appora-Gnekindy was among the ten filmmakers trained in 2017 at the Alliance Française in Bangui. They presented their documentary films to the public in December 2017. The screening was part of the "Filming the World Festival." In seven weeks of training, 10 filmmakers produced 10 documentary films; fascinating stories shot in and around Bangui. (Translated from French)

In class, fifteen-year-old Assia seems concerned. For a class assignment, she must define the notion of living together without using writing. Through her school presentation, she portrays an injustice of which her family was the victim.

Malika Zairi, born in Paris, has French-Moroccan dual nationality. She worked as a social worker for more than 15 years. She directed her first short film, “From one World to another one" about schizophrenia, dealing with real situations.

Casablanca of the late 1970s. Eleven-year-old Hiba is fascinated with the cinema at a time in the history of Morocco where this space is still closed to women. Despite her mother’s interdiction, in order to enter the movie house, Hiba is ready to sell the object of her other passion, her books.

Zineb Tamourt from Morocco, holds a DEA-Sorbonne Paris III where she specialized in Middle Eastern/Arab World Studies and a Master's from the School of Fine Arts in Casablanca (Painting Section), during which she studied film criticism and film analysis. She enrolled in several courses in scriptwriting (fiction and documentary) among the professors include the scriptwriting “doctor” Mohamed Arious and writer-filmmaker Reza Serkanian. “Riad of my dreams” is her first short film, which received the Special Prize of the Festival Africlap (Toulouse, France) in 2017 and the Short Film Young Audience Prize of the International Festival of Films of Women of Salé (FIFFS-Morocco).

In the last century, men of the Church went to the Congo to preach the good word. In Mémoire de missionnaires (Missionary memories), the last witnesses of this epoch recount their memories. They are marked forever by their experiences, by the contradictions and cultural shock experienced.

These carriers of memory testify to an often commented and yet unknown part of colonial history. They give a lucid and critical look at the Christianization of Africa.

Born in Germany to a Belgian father and a Belgian-Congolese mother, Delphine Wil is a filmmaker whose cultural diversity has shaped her path. She has a degree in photography (École de Photographie de la Ville de Bruxelles) and journalism (Université Libre de Bruxelles). In 2011, Delphine made a news story on press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of her graduation thesis. She began her professional experience as a radio journalist on French-language Belgian Radio Television, before turning to audio-visual production. She received training in a video creation workshop in Mons and Senegal, and then moved to Burkina Faso, where she worked with Manivelle Productions, for which she made a documentary on women's literacy in Burkina Faso. “Missionary memories” is her first documentary film. In addition to filmmaking, Delphine Wil works in the field of information in French-speaking Africa.

Through the film "Bimbia…in the footsteps of our ancestors", is a return trip on the route of slavery.

"For me, this film is not only historical but also educational, to show everyone the role that Cameroon played during the period of the slave trade. It is very important. It must be inscribed in the international memorial segment of humanity. I do not want any more amnesia at the level of Cameroon, at the level of other countries. This history is only one part, because much remains to be told."

Bimbia is a former port that played a key role in the transatlantic trade in the Gulf of Guinea. The site is located at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, about twenty kilometres (12,73 miles) from the city of Limbé, in the locality of Bimbia; village of Dikolo-Bimbia, District of Limbé III, in the locality of Fako, Region of South-West Cameroon. The site of the former slave port is linked to a small island just opposite and called Nichols Island. The site is still full of vestiges of the presence of the slave trade in Bimbia. The site visit trace the itinerary of the route of the slave boarding process.

"I have always wanted to wear the documentarian’s cap. It's the audio-visual world that has fascinated me since my youth. I am a regular view of major TV channels such as National Geographic or Planet, constantly watching documentary films on these different channels. In addition to what I do as a professional journalist in print media, was to try to refine this art, because for me, everything begins with writing. So, through writing, the formulation, the structuring, the synchronization of the different pieces, the collection and the processing of the information, allows me to be able to enrich this first documentary film which is very dear to me."

The woven cloth of African origin seems to have fallen by the wayside, because Africans adopt foreign cloth such as wax and basin. I decided to meet those who still have an attachment to the traditions of this locally cloth, to understand their value and the social and symbolic function. But what about the transmission of generational savoir-faire for the survival of this fragile heritage? From an economic standpoint could this textile be a valuable carrier of knowledge? We confront this traditional cloth with that of the wax.

Mireille is a journalist and has made advertising and institutional films with the commercial service of the National Radio and Television of Burundi. In addition, she works in the programming department at FESTICAB, International Festival of Cinema and Audiovisual of Burundi.

She was actively involved in the realization of 5 short animated films in Burundi collaboration with the Belgian crew, including Butoyi, 2013, Kanyan, 2012, Gahungu, 2012, Keza et Karire, 2011, Mfashabagowe, 2011. The themes included respectively, girls' education and violence against girls, civil registration campaign for children, children's rights, infant nutrition and school education.

Mireille Niyonsaba has also trained in animation filmmaking and cinematography with CFI, Studio Malembe Maa. In 2011, she directed a short animated film, “Elle a compris” (She understands). In 2012, she co-directed with five other young people from different African countries, Kamikazi et l’arbre au mille pouvoirs (Kamikazi and the tree of a thousand powers) a short animation film on the theme of an African tale.

Impératrice is a young videographer and blogger who runs a social media platform that promotes the actions and lives of rural women. This year 2070 marks the beginning of the end of the Internet. A new order is introduced to regulate and reduce access to the connection. How far is the Impératrice prepared to go to keep her access to the Internet?

Filmmaker Cyrielle Raingou travels throughout the Cameroonian countryside to teach women about the art of reporting, and to have them tell their story through the moving image.

Participant of Citizens Connections: "My Limegbié project was born out of a wish to allow women living in rural areas to have their say. How could their role within their community be enhanced and the talents hidden within them be allowed to flourish? The idea was therefore to introduce these women to the art of documentary-making, so that they could give their own account of their daily lives and actions, far away from towns and cities.

In such a context, my involvement in the Citizen Connections initiative led by CFI has provided real impetus.

In Senegal and throughout West Africa there exist a multitude of ethnic groups; themselves divided into different casts. But what is amazing in this region is the ease with which exchange takes place between ethnic groups. I find the simplicity and humour with which the ethnic question is treated in this part of Africa absolutely admirable. Because in the innermost part of myself, I wish that my country, Burundi, torn apart by cyclical ethnic wars, could live in peace.

Diane Kanéza holds a degree in Communication Sciences and Audiovisual Design. In 2006 she joined Burundi National Television as director and presenter. In 2009, during the first edition of the Festival International du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel du Burundi (International Film and Audiovisual Festival of Burundi) FESTICAB, her film Abattage et environnement peuvent-ils rimer ? (Slaughter and Environment can they go together?), co-directed with her friend Gloriose Niyondiko, receives the Best Documentary Film Award. Combining the work in television and her passion for the documentary, she collaborates with Léonce Ngabo and other Burundian directors in film productions. In 2012, she started her own company, Mikadie Production.

[English]
Pascale Gabriella Serra was born in Bangui, Central African Republic.
After working for 2 years as a TV presenter for a private television channel in Cotonou, Benin, she went to Paris to study audiovisual communication and obtained a diploma for director assistant at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français de Paris in 2006.

For several years, she worked for non-governmental organizations and associations producing institutional films. These achievements allowed her the opportunity to work on film productions in Benin, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, France and the United States where she won an award, the "Leadership Award" in September 2007 at Carnegie Hall in New York.

In 2009, she directed twenty 15-minute news stories on the programme "Franco Tempo" that were broadcast at the Alliance Française de Bangui as well as on the Central African Republic TV channel, as part of the Semaine de la Francophonie (Francophone Week). Wanting to show another image of her country, contrary to the negative stereotypes generated by war and violence, she directed her first documentary: Bêafrîka in January 2015. This documentary was produced by the association IllustrO France that she founded in 2013, with the help of private sponsors.

Seyna, a seventeen-year-old Cameroonian adolescent, is passionate about the history of France, the country where she was born and which she loves very much. Having obtained her baccalaureate and approaching adulthood, Seyna has only one desire, to acquire French nationality. But her father Amidou is fiercely opposed to it.

Josza Anjembé is a French director, documentarian, scriptwriter and journalist. Born in Paris of Cameroonian origins, Josza Anjembé grew up in Bondy and Les Lilas. After graduating (ES section), she obtained a Master in "Information-Communication" at the University of Paris VIII "Vincennes in Saint-Denis". Josza Anjembé worked as a journalist for TF1 (Sans aucun doute), then for France5 and France2. Between 2009 and 2011, she was a reporter for the television channel Africa 242. In 2017, for Canal + Afrique2. In 2011, Josza Anjembé directed the documentary “Massage in Cameroon”. In 2012, Josza Anjembé made a second documentary, K.R.U.M.P. And in 2016, Josza Anjembé directed her first short film, Le bleu blanc rouge de mes cheveux, titled French, in English.

In a working-class neighbourhood in the city of Yaoundé, water becomes scarce during the dry season. The young student Djamila struggles to find potable water for her mother after returning from school.

Christelle Magne, a Bandjounaise from western Cameroon, studied arts management and filmmaking at the University of Yaoundé I where she obtained a Bachelors and Master’s I. She trained professionally in cinematography and film direction at l’Institut Supérieur aux métiers du Cinéma et de l’audiovisuelle de l’Afrique Centrale (ISCAC) Yaoundé-Ecrans noirs from 2009 to 2011 and received additional film training at CFI in 2012. She has worked as camera operator on several films and directed her first work, the 6-minute short film Beta.

"Blanc-Noir et Heureux" relates the discrimination and rejection that Fatu and Restarick experience because of their albinism. The film also exposes the determination of these two characters to keep their heads on their shoulders to realize their dreams, despite the prejudices.

The goal is to show that people with albinism are normal people like all humans and that whatever the color of our skin, equality is what characterizes us the best.

[English]
Cornelia Glèlè studied journalism at the Institut Superieur des métiers d'audiovisuel ISMA in Cotonou, Benin. She is a documentary filmmaker, blogger for Ecranbenin since 2017 and freelance at the Benin Association of Social Marketing since 2015.

21 June 2018

Are you a woman filmmaker, sculptor or visual artist? Apply to showcase your work at the Upcoming Mama Afrika Film Festival in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mama Afrika Film Festival showcases and celebrates women in the arts. The festival will showcase various forms of creative arts made by or about women in the field of sculpting, filmmaking, literary works and visual arts.

The 2018 Festival theme is: Legendary Women. The characters who inhabit our screens have the ability to shape who we are, who we aspire to be, and how we view the world around us. Cinema has an incredible power to influence and challenge constructed portrayals of womanhood.

I return once again to those places of my origins in order to confront my childhood memories of the reality of "the Fifiré", of crocodile hunting. Previously, during this festivity the crocodile hunting of the Senegal River was performed, but they have disappeared. Since young people no longer have crocodiles to measure their strength and there are too few fish to make a livelihood, those who have not left, like me, are experiencing a real upheaval between tradition and modernity. (Translated from French at filmsdelacaravane).

[English]Mame Woury Thioubou was born and raised in Senegal. After a MA in geography at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar and a diploma in journalism at the University of St. Louis, Senegal. She is a journalist/reporter at the newspaper "Quotidien" and for the company Avenir Communication, and technical assistant for Programme Agenda 21 in the city of Matam.

In 2009, she decided to return to her studies continuing in the area of journalism but from a more artistic approach by engaging in creative documentary filmmaking, now considered a genre in itself. She enrolled in the Master II Réalisation de Documentaire de Création (Creative Documentary Filmmaking) at the University Gaston Berger in St. Louis (Senegal), under the tutelage of Africadoc.

20 June 2018

Salem and Halima are looking for their only son who disappeared a few months before. A few days after 14 January 2011 Ahmed chose to immigrate to Italy illegally. The couple pursues a fierce and desperate quest, disrupting their existence. In an arid and austere landscape, the film is set deep in southern Tunisia where contraband and socio-political tension coexist.

Sarra Abodo was born in Gabès, Tunisia. She studied at the ('Institut Supérieur des Beaux Arts) Institute of Fine Arts of Tunis, specializing in graphic design. She continued her training first in Montreal (obtaining a Master’s in documentary filmmaking), then at the French Institute of Cooperation directed by the FEMIS and lastly at the INSAS in Belgium, where she obtained another Master's in film editing.

I am an artist and every movie I make is a reflection of who I am. I am driven to create characters that are very personal to me, to share parts of my life with the audience through my stories. I believe that there is no unique experience. All humans experience joy, sadness, anger in different forms and as an African filmmaker I tell my own version of my feelings through my stories and characters. Kasala! is a reflection of my environment, my life existing in Nigeria. It is my love story about Lagosians, brotherhood and the tenacity of Nigerians as a whole.

In this documentary, the director follows the path of mixed-race Franco-Burkinabe, Claire Lagedemond in her journey of identity to find her father, whom she has not seen since childhood. Born in Côte d’Ivoire, she grew up in the village. In Burkina, with her non-literate grandmother, she is now more than 40 years old and determined to find the father who for her has become a ghost. Also, Claire fights to prevent this same situation from happening to her son whose father is also absent. In this film, one has the impression of being transported into an investigation that goes from Ouagadougou to Abidjan, of which we absolutely want to know the outcome. All the ingredients seem to come together: A strong character, suspense and even a dose of humour. The other fact is that the film embodies the message taking the form of a filmed letter intended for the ghost-father. A message that will certainly be carried around the world and which may touch "Mr. Roger". Finally, "this film is an example of a woman’s courage and tenacity, despite her painful journey. It is Claire’s positivity that allowed us to believe in this project, which is now a reality", Laurentine Bayala said to an audience, that through their silence, laughter and comments was very touched by this story. The same is true of the committed production team that took nearly eight years to meet the challenge to see it to fruition. Claire is still pursuing her research. She has since found photographs of her parents. "This information could help to open the path in the hope of filming the reunion between father and daughter," the director hopes. To the ghost of the father by Marie Laurentine Bayala. By Bengnime Rachelle Some. Source: JCFA NEWS No. 3 Journées Cinématographiques de la Femme Africain de l'Image.

Filmmaker Marie Laurentine Bayala has worked in new media since 2008. She has directed more than nine films, including “Jusqu'au Bout,” a film examining violent acts against women. The film won a top honor at Ciné Droit Libre regional film festival and was shown at Africa’s largest film festival, FESPACO, in 2011 and on the TV channel TV5 Africa. She won the International Organization of La Francophonie fund to make "The Fight goes on" her last short film. She studied communication and journalism at the University of Ouagadougou and received her Master’s in documentary filmmaking from Gaston Berger University in Senegal.

For 17-year-old girl Lydie, from an early age, running away and getting by are everyday experiences. One day she befriends a girl who is deaf and mute. While in her company, she will learn to survive in the streets and even goes as far as to simulate being deaf and mute in a host family for 9 months. Under the compassionate observation of the filmmaker, the film recounts Lydie's quest for an identity, through the conflicting relationships with her mother, her absences and her attempts to return to normal. The story of Lydie, as a silent reflection of her mother's story, is the story of forgiveness and redemption at the heart of all human relationships.

Aïssata Ouarma is a Burkinabe director. She began to take an interest in documentary scriptwriting when she obtained a master's degree in AGAC (Art, Management and Cultural Administration), option Dramatic Arts at the University of Ouagadougou. As a director, she made Le Silence des autres released in 2011, Foo ni marm in 2013 and The Rose in 2014. In 2015, she directed Je danse, donc je suis (I dance, therefore I am ) which obtained the Best Documentary Award at FESPACO - The Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou.

"The forbidden fruit" tells the story of a young couple who are committed to each other, and living happily without major financial difficulties. Unfortunately, the enterprise where the two lovebirds are employed goes through a period of financial crisis. As a result, they experience a decline in their financial situation and are faced with a critical decision. The fiance, Willy Wanga decides that his sweetheart Mia should leave to try an adventure in France, which will allow him to change their fortunes, which she accepts. Regularly, she sends money to her fiancé to support the household. Happy with the outcome of their relationship, Willy, sets up a small business, which begins to prosper, and hence he envisages getting married and awaits the return of his beloved. Will the marriage take place? Is Mia still in love with her financé?

Dorcas Gloria Ahouan-Gonou from Côte d’Ivoire is a producer and director. Her other films include the series "Fashe" (2012), the feature film "Football Love" (2014) which also garnered an award at the Pan-African Film Festival in Cannes and "Best film", at the Charity Festival of Monaco.